Never Free
by princespeach
Summary: Three years ago, the Sylvaranti Chosen of Regeneration released the four seals and traveled to the Tower of Salvation. The world of Sylvarant was saved, and the people of Tethe'alla looked to their one last hope of survival and regeneration- Zelos Wilder.
1. Chapter 1

I'M SO EXCITED!!! That special kind of hyperness that only comes from posting new fics. But not just ANY new fic, A ZELOS FIC!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia!

* * *

Chapter One – The Beginning of the End

It had never been quite as cold in Meltokio as it was that morning. The sky was a dismal stone grey and a cool, biting breeze blew through the city. Looking out over the pint-sized city folk, what was once the pride and joy of all Tethe'allans was now a depressing sight. The city's slums had, over the years, spread throughout the entire lower levels. The only building that remained as it had been was the coliseum, which was only kept up to be used for public executions, one of the more gruesome new traditions of the reformed capital.

The fiery redhead turned away from the city view in disgust, and jumped lithely down off the roof of his house. He usually hated looking over the city. It gave him the weird twisting feeling in his chest that he had long ago recognized to be 'duty'. Lately, though, he'd found himself drawn to the spot. Sebastian said it was his 'Chosen One' instincts finally kicking in or something. Of all the possible explanations, he hoped that one wasn't true.

Zelos moved quickly as he went to the door of his house, which had recently joined the list of things he didn't want to look at. While the stores, houses, and even Meltokio castle had been thoroughly ransacked, his house remained almost as pristine as the coliseum. As soon as things got bad, the whole 'Chosen One' thing got taken to a whole new level of craziness. People were honestly willing to die to protect him- and even his house. Of course, Zelos thought this was beyond stupid; it defeated the purpose of the Chosen, being to _save_ people. With the city being what it was, most days the Chosen of Tethe'alla found himself hiding out in his house, but there were always some days when he couldn't. Much as he'd like to be, he wasn't the kind of person who could just stand by while someone was getting hurt.

Not today, though. Today, Zelos sought the solitude of his home. Maybe he'd go to sleep. You can't think so much when you're unconscious…

"Chosen One!!"

Zelos sighed, reluctantly turning himself around. Why sleep when you can talk to obsessive crazy people instead? Already forming his excuse to leave in his head, Zelos was surprised to see that the person in front of him was a girl. Just one, and she was kinda cute too. Maybe he _would_ stay and talk for a while…

"Why hello there little hunny, what can I do for you?" He said as he got into his familiar routine. Heheh, oh yeah, he was getting lucky tonight…

"Ch-Chosen One! I…" she sniveled a little; this didn't look good. "I-" the poor girl tried to choke out before bursting into tears.

"Uh…" Zelos hesitated, his 'moves' didn't usually bring girls to tears. But hey, he was the Great Zelos Wilder, and he could work this.

"Hey now, it's alright," he cooed, gently wrapping an arm around the girl. She fell against him, crying into his chest. Oh yeah, he _totally_ had her. It wasn't long before her tears began to slow, and the caring Zelos slowly led her up the stairs towards his home. "See? Now then, what can the Great Zelos Wilder do to cheer up such a cute little hunny?"

"Oh!" The girl stopped moving to stare up at Zelos, tears seemingly long forgotten now, "Yes! That's why I came!"

Zelos frowned, letting his arm around her drop a little so he could turn to face her. "That's why you came?" He repeated.

"Yes!" She yelled, nodding hopefully for a moment before her face fell, "You see, my whole family… they've all been killed, or… or worse, taken away to those… those _things_…"

Uh-oh. Zelos squirmed a little; he knew where this was going. Releasing the girl completely, he began his tiny steps towards the door.

"I see…" he said slowly, not breaking eye contact, "Look, I'm really sorry for your loss, but-"

"No!" She cried, grabbing hold of his arm. She looked like she was going to cry again. Zelos stared at the whimpering girl before him. He hated this. The poor girl was breaking down right in front of him, and she wasn't the first to do so. Too many girls had done this, far too many, but there was little he could do about it. He watched her solemnly and waited for what he knew from experience was coming.

"Chosen, blessed Chosen! Surely now is the time! We have waited so long; can't you begin the journey of regeneration?"

She was so innocent, and so hopeless. He could tell just by looking that she had suffered greatly, as so many others had, and that only made this harder. Yeah, the Great Zelos Wilder, crusher of young girl's last hopes.

"Listen, I…" he paused, "I can't go yet."

"B-But, Chosen One, _please_!" She cried, still tugging on his arm, "I beg of you!"

"It's not as simple as all that! I can't just go out there are start regenerating the world! There are signs that we have to wait for! The Desians have come, and we built the temple, but we still have to wait for the-"

He was interrupted by a blinding flash of light. The girl, still clutching him, screamed. In a moment it had passed, though, and she let go of him, jumping for joy as the redhead sank to his knees, his eyes widened in shock, horror, and most of all… fear.

"… the oracle."

Three years ago, the Sylvaranti Chosen of Regeneration released the four seals and traveled all the way to the Tower of Salvation. The world of Sylvarant was regenerated and saved, and the world of Tethe'alla was doomed.

Three years ago, the Tower of Salvation disappeared from the Tethe'allan sky. In one instant, the people had lost their salvation. They thought it was the worst that could have possibly happened. In the next week, they would be proven wrong.

In the next seven days, the Desians came. It had been 96 years since Desians had been seen plaguing the world of Tethe'alla. In that time, all evidence of them had been removed, and nearly all memory had blissfully faded. It had taken 96 years to erase the damage they caused, and it took about a month for them to reclaim all they'd lost. Human ranches once again poisoned the Tethe'allan landscape, and sucked the life out of the land.

Mana shortages spread like wildfire, and Tethe'allans were forced to again learn the meaning of 'conservation'. The wealthy fell and the poor died out. It took three whole years for the world to fall apart.

But through all this horror and destruction, the people still held on to their last remaining hope: their holy savior. For now, the fate of the Tethe'alla they knew rested on the teachings of the church of Martel, and on their own Chosen of Regeneration.

In their sole hope of salvation, the people poured all they had. They constructed a monstrous temple for the goddess, so that it may house the prized oracle, and they willingly threw their lives down for their beloved Chosen, the only one who could bring peace to their crumbling world.

"Oh! Chosen One! At last, the day of Prophecy has arrived!"

Zelos could barely take in the girl's words. He could barely breathe. This was it, the oracle. Everything was over now. In that five-second burst of light, the angels of Cruxis had condemned him.

The girl quickly sprinted away in her excitement (he assumed to the temple), but he was no longer alone. All around him, people seemed to be coming out of the city's woodwork to gape at either him or the temple in awe. Their Day of Prophecy had come; this was the start of their salvation. These people… they didn't know anything about the full meaning of the oracle, the journey, of anything. They were… fools. Fools to think he was actually going to go through with this! _Was_ he actually going to go through with this? That twisting feeling gnawed at his chest, this time in the form of fear as the now mob of people drew nearer to him. Was he going to go through with this? Hmph. Did he have a _choice_?

Suddenly he felt someone grab him by the arms, pulling the weary chosen to his feet. Right, mob. Mobs never ended well… Using his trademark grace, the redhead manoeuvred free of the person's grasp, and made his way to the door of his home. One look at the quickly approaching crowd told him that any form of communication that wasn't him running to the temple was useless, so he instead continued his backward movement until he felt the hard wood of his door behind him. Lucky for him, the Tethe'allan Chosen had the gift of speed, and nimble fingers. Using these, Zelos managed to open the tall oak door and get inside before any of the increasingly insane mob-folk could reach him. He leaned back against the door, and slowly slid down its smooth surface till he reached the floor with a heavy sigh. For the moment, he was safe.

"Master Zelos?" He jumped slightly upon hearing the unexpected voice.

"Sebastian, you surprised me."

"As did you, Master Zelos. Forgive me, but I expected you to be well on your way to the temple by now." The old man said politely. He was doing it again. Only Sebastian could say so much with so few words. Looking into the old man's eyes, he saw the full meaning of his message: he couldn't stay here. Suddenly, the face of the girl from earlier, and so many others like it filled his mind. All of them distressed, dying, and begging for his help. Zelos sighed again, stupid conscience…

"Just getting my things, Sebastian." He said solemnly.

"As I thought, Master Zelos, which is why I have your belongings right here," the old butler reached behind him, and pressed into Zelos' hands his stiletto, and a wooden shield.

"Thanks…" Zelos said a little sarcastically as he slowly strapped the sheath to his belt, and so on before standing to face the old man. After a moment, he said, "Heh, no goodbyes yet, right?"

Sebastian nodded, "Not yet, Master Zelos."

Outside was arguably worse than before, so he took the back way out, and to his immense surprise, found no one there. Pleased that his luck had not completely abandoned him, the red-haired Chosen walked the streets in solitude.

The Meltokio streets were even more barren than they usually were; he figured that meant most of the residents were already up at the temple. So, Zelos was alone with his thoughts for the most part, which was perhaps not the safest thing at the moment – but somehow, through all the vast amounts of inner turmoil, his feet managed to carry him down the familiar path. He was headed for the temple, which had once been the city's church. As per the teachings of Martel, they'd replaced the old church with a bigger, better, more grotesque-looking Temple of Martel, almost exactly like the one that had been lost or destroyed somewhere between the last time Tethe'alla received the oracle and today. The last temple apparently stood in a place that was now known as the 'Otherworldly Gate', but the new one had been placed here in Meltokio for convenience more than anything. This was something Zelos was glad of, because he really wasn't a huge fan of being sent off to the middle of nowhere to wait for the oracle. That sounded more like a job for his sister. Shit, his sister…

She'd be at the temple too, wouldn't she? When the church had demanded that his Cruxis Crystal be brought to Meltokio to join him in waiting for the oracle, she had insisted upon coming with it to remain its guardian until the very end. She was probably the only person besides himself that would be upset that the Day of Prophecy had been today, and she was going to be pissed when she had to give him the Crystal now. Although, he wasn't entirely sure if his sister had ever _not_ been pissed...

Suddenly, Zelos heard a sound he'd become all too accustomed to in the city – screaming. With a little help from his Exsphere, he climbed to the roof of the closest building, the party hall, to get a better look of things.

"Whoa…" It seemed like the entire city had gathered in the uppermost level, and the majority of them were either screaming or fleeing in terror. The reason for this appeared to be a group of about 15 or 20 Desi- no, Renegades? Zelos' eyes narrowed. Three years ago the Renegades had had a truce with Tethe'alla; they'd even plotted to take out Sylvarant's Chosen together, but things had sort of… _changed_. Nowadays the assassination attempts and heartless murders had pretty much killed his love for them. They'd been a pain when it came to trying to stop anything to do with regeneration from happening, and a lot of times that included himself. Though there had been a time when they'd wanted him as an ally, those times were long past.

He was getting sidetracked. Right now he had to focus; the Renegades were attacking, but the city still had a few odd members of the militia left – why weren't they stepping in? One of the Renegade soldiers below shifted, and he caught sight of his answer. One of them, he assumed the leader, was holding a knife to a young girl's throat. Zelos recognized the man, he'd seen him around Yuan a lot before… What was his name? Boat? Bot? Botta – that was it. If he remembered correctly, that man was second only to Yuan, which meant they really were sending in the best. It also explained why no one was doing anything to stop them. Taking hostages was a cruel thing to do, but it did work well. Still, unlike the Desians, the Renegades weren't big on random acts of violence, so what did they want?

"CHOSEN OF REGENERATION! SHOW YOURSELF!" The man bellowed, tightening his grip on the girl. Of course. Of course they would want him. Well, this really was a perfect situation… Trust half-elves to make an already epically horrible day even worse. Frowning, Zelos leaned forward to get better look at the hostage. _Oh crap…_ He knew her. It was his cute little hunny from earlier. She was whimpering again, much like she had when he'd held her in his arms. Hmph. So the Renegades were targeting his hunnies now? That was just one step too far. Trying to kill him was one thing, but going after cute, innocent little girls? That was just wrong.

His fingers danced around the hilt of his sword as he thought about the situation. The soldiers were in the middle of the square, so there really wasn't any option other than charge in and hope for the best, which didn't really sound like an 'I'm coming out of this alive' option. Of course, he wasn't coming out of this alive anyway, he realized as his heart sank. Regenerating the world was going to end him no matter what.

"CHOSEN! Come now, or this girl's blood will be on your hands!"

"Heh, alright, time to put the plan into action!" he said in an oddly cheery voice as he headed out across the few remaining rooftops. He made it to the square quickly enough, and even better was the fact that no one had seen him. He smirked to himself, and in one fluid movement, dove from the top of the building and into the crowd. Gasps of surprise were heard, but mostly they all just stared in amazement as the Chosen landed gracefully on his feet.

"So, Chosen, you were stupid enough to come!" The booming voice yelled through the crowd, which quickly cleared out of the way for the Chosen. "Heh, that was a costly mistake, and for it, you will die."

"You know, guys like you have been saying that for years now," Zelos said tauntingly as he stopped in front of the troupe of men, "and I'm still standing."

"Not for long." Botta sneered, "The Renegades cannot allow the journey of regeneration to take place."

The red head rolled his eyes and unsheathed his sword, "Just leave the girl alone, Botta."

The girl, who had been frozen in fear before now, started to squirm under Botta's grip.

"Chosen One, no! Please, just run away! Get to the temple!!" She cried.

"Don't worry, little hunny, I'll save you," Zelos told her with a wink. "Wouldn't be much of a Chosen if I left you to die, now would I? Not to mention, I don't think our friends with the crossbows have any intention of letting me leave just yet."

She shook her head, but stayed silent. Zelos took this time to close the little distance between them, and readied himself for attack, but first, he glanced over at Botta.

"You gonna let her go?"

The man laughed roughly, "Not just yet."

"C'mon," Zelos argued, "let her go, and I'll forget all about this whole 'regeneration' thing."

"You're lying."

He smiled, "Yeah, I am."

"Then you will die!" The man yelled, motioning to his subordinates, "Attack!"

They lunged, as most lackeys do, and Zelos dodged. He manoeuvred himself in-between them as they charged, and then dashed forward to face Botta. The most important thing was to get his hunny out, though he wasn't sure how to do it; he had seconds before the not-so-clever lackeys caught up to him, and something told him Botta wasn't one of those guys you could deal with in a few seconds. Still, he had to do something; otherwise, no one was going to get out of here alive. Trying his luck, Zelos attacked the half-elf head on, a bad mistake in retrospect; Botta was ready for it with his ridiculously large blade. The man blocked Zelos' attack with ease before coming forward with his own crushing strength. Realizing that one-on-one with Botta wasn't the best idea, Zelos prayed that the large man was slower than he looked and tried to dodge around him to get to his hunny. It seemed to work, and Zelos slashed out against the arm still holding the girl hostage. Botta yelled, and released her while bringing his weapon down upon the Chosen's head. Zelos shoved the girl out of the battle and raised his shield to protect himself. He was watching the girl successfully sprint off to safety when Botta's bombarding strength hit him. The man was even stronger than he looked, and Zelos' knees buckled from the blow. Falling to the ground, he barely managed to roll away as Botta once again brought his monstrous weapon down. Standing now, Zelos examined his situation, and it wasn't good. Botta was coming for him, and he'd successfully managed to roll himself into the centre of a circle of subordinates. Overall, he wasn't really sure how to get out of this one.

"What now, Chosen?" Botta laughed, "Looks like you're surrounded."

"Lucky for me I work best under pressure." He smirked, dashing forward once again. Botta laughed and swung his own weapon – Zelos again tried to block with his shield, and was again pushed to the ground, this time smacking his head against the stone. The small lump forming on his head wasn't exactly attractive, which only made the situation worse. As he stood up once more, though, he realized the situation really couldn't get any worse. Botta was charging him, nearly upon him, and he couldn't get out of the way-

"AAAAAAAAAARGH!" Zelos' eyes widened as he saw the fierce figure freeze in front of him as a blade pierced through his stomach. Screaming in pain, Botta dropped the weapon and fell to the ground as the blade was retracted, revealing to Zelos his saviour. He was tall (though not as tall as himself), and if Zelos had to guess, he'd say he was around 19 years old. He had short brown hair that seemed to spike all on its own, a curious-looking red outfit with a multitude of buttons and belts, and he carried two long twin blades, one of them still gleaming with blood.

"…Who the hell are you?" Zelos asked slowly. The brunette locked eyes with him.

"Duck."

Zelos frowned, "What?"

He didn't get an answer as the mysterious teen grabbed his arm and threw him to the side as Botta somehow managed to attack again, despite the blood that still poured from him. Zelos sat there on the ground, still in shock, and watched as the swordsman fought one-on-one with the half-elf. It was truly something to see; his two blades were more than a match for Botta's one, and despite the brunette's obvious strength, the brunet somehow managed to push Botta back with his furious attacks and seemingly unlimited amount of mana. Right next to the awe and amazement Zelos was feeling was a building irritation as the teen seemed to have no trouble fighting the creature that had completely overwhelmed him.

"Give it up, Botta, you can't win this fight." The stranger said, as he swiped forward again.

Botta blocked the attack once more, "You think I'd lose to a _boy_ like you?!"

The brunet smirked then, "You're injured, idiot, you're going to die of blood loss or my blade – but either way the end is coming quickly if you continue this."

The half-elf seemed to see the reasoning in the words, along with the approaching Meltokio militia, and finally stepped away from the battle, one hand clutching his wounded side. "Very well, Aurion, we'll end this early. But mark my words, I _will_ kill you!"

The brunette laughed dryly as Botta began to back away from the square. "I'm sure you will. Give my regards to Yuan!"

The Renegades managed to escape before the city militia arrived, looking downcast that they'd missed the action but quickly putting themselves to use by disbanding the crowd of people. Zelos watched with a slight glare as the teen who had saved his life walked over to him and held out a hand, which Zelos refused.

"Who the hell are you?" He repeated.

The brunet raised an eyebrow at the clear dislike, and sheathed his swords, "Your rescuer, apparently."

"Tsk," Zelos scoffed, crossing his arms in annoyance as he began to walk away. "Well, you can leave now, kid."

Suddenly the swordsman appeared in front of him, an equally annoyed expression on his face. "Sorry, _Chosen One, _but isn't the temple that way?" He said, pointing.

Zelos swore mentally as he turned toward the eerie structure of the temple. "What do you want, a cookie? Go away," he said when he noticed the teen following him.

"No, actually, I want you hire me…" He said uncomfortably, as if he himself didn't believe it.

Zelos stopped. "Excuse me?"

"I'm a… mercenary…"

Zelos laughed, "Oh, you want money! _Very_ heroic."

The brunet glared at him, "Hey, whether you like it or not I think this incident proves that you won't be getting very far on this journey by yourself."

Zelos silently continued his glare as the city's militia approached the two men.

"Chosen One, we're so sorry we weren't of more use to you," the apparent captain of the troupe said, eyeing the brunet, "Is everything alright here?"

"It's fine," Zelos said after a moment. "He's not a threat."

The captain nodded, "Very well, Chosen One. Her Majesty has placed us under your command in the event of the oracle's arrival, and we are to do all we can to aid you on your journey."

Zelos rolled his eyes. Yay, Hilda'd given him his own army of tin cans to take with him. Still, this might at least get that mercenary to leave him alone.

"Ya hear that?" he said to the teen. "I've got all the protection I need, and I got it all for free!"

"You really think thirty guys in armour clanking around is the best way to keep you alive?" The brunette scoffed, "The Renegades'll be on you in seconds, and we've all seen how well you held out against them."

Zelos scowled before stomping off toward the tower. Whoever this guy was, he was done talking to him. "C'mon, Captain." He said quickly, signalling for the troops to follow him.

"There's monsters in there you know…"

Zelos didn't look as he heard the teen walking beside him. "I can handle it."

"I'm sure you can, what with your big and shiny troupe of knights and all. But the question is: how will Meltokio and its dear queen fair without them while you're gone?"

Zelos paused in his seething to think about the stranger's words. He was right; these knights were literally all the protection the city had left. Queen Hilda's little 'gift' to him was just another example of people giving up their lives to protect his.

"Wait," he said slowly, turning to face the captain. "He's right."

"Nonsense, Chosen One, our time would be better spent protecting you from danger!"

Zelos shook his head, "Sorry, but if bringing you guys along means giving up the city, I can't do it."

"But, Chosen One-"

"Don't argue. You said you were to follow my orders, so I'm _ordering_ you to stay here."

"Very well, Chosen One, but I must ask – do you really mean to go off with no protection whatsoever?"

"Of course not!" He said then, looking away from them, "I'll just have to… hire a mercenary…"

"Heh." The mysterious teen crossed his arms triumphantly, a smug smile stretching out across his face.

"Very well, Chosen One, if that is your wish; however, I must implore you to take us with you into the temple, in case the Renegades have placed further traps for you inside."

"The halls inside the temple are small and narrow, not exactly fit for huge clanking suits of armour, and I doubt the Renegades would have gone inside the temple," the brunet told them.

The captain stared at the teen for a moment before turning back to Zelos, "Chosen One?"

The redhead sighed, "Yeah, alright, fine, he's right. You guys just wait outside and make sure those Renegades didn't hurt anyone on their way out of the city."

"As you wish, Chosen One," he agreed, bowing slightly. "We shall await your return here."

Zelos nodded quickly and opened one large stone door of the temple, grumbling a little when he saw the mercenary follow him inside. "You know, I never said you could come."

He smirked, "Oh, I'm only here to pray."

Before Zelos could reply to that comment, he found himself surrounded by the temple's over-excited priests.

"Chosen One!! Oh, praise Martel you're safe!"

"We heard fighting outside, and so we were worried you wouldn't make it to receive the oracle!"

How nice of them to not give a damn about anything but that stupid oracle. Zelos plastered a neutral look on his face as he spoke to the men.

"There was trouble outside. The Renegades decided to make one last attempt on my life before the journey could begin."

"I see, then it appears that time is indeed of the essence," the priest with the biggest hat said, herding him over to another tall doorway. "As you know, this is the way to the topmost chamber of the temple, where you must receive the oracle. Do you require any of our order to accompany you?"

"No, that won't be necessary; I'll take it from here," he said as he made his way through the door.

"As you wish, Chosen One," he said with a bow before putting an arm out to stop the stranger from following him. "And who might you be, sir?"

Zelos cringed a little as he heard the reply, "I'm with him."

Whoever this guy was, and whatever he was doing here, it didn't seem like he had any intention of going away – which, to Zelos' eyes, was a shame. Though he had to admit that there was a very, very small part of him that was happy that he wasn't going to be alone to face the tower, and whatever may be waiting for him at the top.

* * *

STILL EXCITED!!!

For those of you who want to know, here's how this fic came about:  
- My love for Zelos as a wicked-awesome character.  
- My need to write an angsty Zelos fic that didn't say: EVERY TIME ZELOS WAS HAPPY, IT WAS A LIE!

And then of course I thought: What could make an angsty Zelos fic even BETTER? But of course! ANGSTY CRUXIS LLOYD!!!

Cruxis Lloyd is also one of those things i've ALWAYS wanted to write. In fact, it's what started me on fanfics in the first place! So as you can probably tell, I'm REALLY excited about this fic. And I hope that you, the readers, will be as excited as I am.

If the ending is a little...sudden, it's because this chapter WAS a lot longer. But, for the sake of not wanting it to be TOO long, I decided to end it here and finish up the Temple of Martel in the next chapter. Which, by the way, is pretty much done, and I'll post it next Sunday if all goes well.

Review please!!! Tell me what you think of my newest fic!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2! And OMFG, I'm actually posting it when I said I would! It's a miracle!

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own ToS, if I did, the epic fail that is DotNW would be an epic Zelloyd WIN.

* * *

Chapter 2 – Last Day of Procrastination

He heard the sound of the door closing behind them with a bang, and found himself in the middle of a large circular room with three passageways leading off of it. Zelos had been here before, of course. In all their desperation to prepare for the 'Day of Prophecy', the priests had been sure to have Zelos memorize the path he must take. So, confidently, Zelos marched up the central staircase, expecting to find a warp pad that would take him directly to the uppermost chamber. Instead, he found a… force field?

"Well this wasn't here before…" He muttered, staring up at the painful-looking purple screen.

"You're gonna need to get the sorcerer's ring," the stranger said from behind him.

Zelos turned to look at him. "The what, now?"

"The sorcerer's ring." He repeated, heading back to the circular room, "C'mon."

"Who decided you were leader?" Zelos grumbled as he followed him.

"Right, sorry, _Chosen One_," he said, eyeing the redhead. "Where should we head next?"

"You mean where should _I_ head next."

He smirked. "I mean where should I follow."

"Hmph." Zelos crossed his arms, deciding to head down the right passageway. "So, what's your name?"

"Lloyd Aurion."

The red head sniggered a little, "_Lloyd?_"

Lloyd glared a little before turning his gaze back to scanning for monsters. "What about you?"

Zelos paused for a moment in surprise before smirking again. "You need to ask?"

"No," he said honestly. "But I thought it might be nice if I did."

Zelos laughed a little and spun around to face the man, arms out wide, "The Great Zelos Wilder, at your service."

Resuming his walk, Zelos decided to risk questioning his newfound mercenary, "So, Lloyd, you wouldn't happen to be a member of Cruxis, now would you?" He watched as the younger teen eyed him suspiciously, saying nothing. Zelos smiled, "Before everything went to hell, Tethe'alla was pretty close to the Renegades, and Yuan told us some pretty interesting stuff about Cruxis. Like how they tended to send down little helpers in the form of mercenaries." When the brunette still didn't answer, he repeated the question, "So, Lloyd, are you a member of Cruxis?"

"If I say yes, will I still get paid?"

Zelos laughed, "I doubt you'd get paid anyway. This thing will end in my death, which means Seles will inherit the Wilder family fortune, and Seles is _not_ gonna pay you."

"Seles?"

"My sister." He said bitterly, "You'll probably meet her; she's in here somewhere, hugging my Cruxis Crystal…"

"Hugging your Cruxis Crystal?"

Zelos smiled, "You'll see."

The man made no reply and so the two continued down the passageway, encountering monsters every now and then. They were all pretty easy, and half the time they were insects. Zelos did very little in the way of fighting; he was more than happy to let little Lloyd do all the work. The brunet seemed to be in a hurry for some reason, like he really just wanted to get this over and done with. Not really the attitude he expected from a suspected member of Cruxis, but he supposed that it didn't really matter. In the end, Lloyd was just like everyone else; all he wanted was regeneration.

Soon they found themselves on a strange-looking platform with square holes. Strolling around was an extremely out-of-place-looking rock creature. Zelos stood watching it for a moment before noticing the brunet looking at him expectantly.

"You suddenly lose your nerve or something?" Zelos asked mockingly. Lloyd glared in answer, and said nothing. With a small sigh, Zelos stepped forward, unsheathing his sword. Truthfully, he'd never really fought anything like this before, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Using appropriate timing and precise attacks, the rock golem fell quickly enough, leaving behind no body, but instead a large, perfectly square block. It was now that the red-clad teen approached, again doing little more than staring expectantly.

"So you're what, just not helping now?" He queried.

"I'm a mercenary; you don't pay me to think."

"In other words, Cruxis told you not to."

He smirked, "No comment."

"Riiight. Well, too bad for you, I don't need your help anyway," he said confidently before pushing the surprisingly light block down one of the holes. As expected, another golem appeared moments later. Zelos stepped forward to fight again, and was surprised to see Lloyd join him. Together with the teen, the monster was brought down in half the time. A few blocks later, the two of them made their way down the stairs and across the recently completed path to a strange glowing pedestal holding a floating ring. Zelos grabbed it and examined the seemingly ordinary red-jewelled ring. "So this is going to stop that force field?"

"It should." Lloyd answered, quickly heading back the way they'd come. At this point, Zelos was sure he wasn't imagining the rushed feeling he was getting about all this.

"What's the hurry?" He asked, following along at a slower pace that Lloyd was forced to match.

"Nothing," the brunet said in a slightly constrained voice. Whatever was bothering him, he wasn't about to tell the red-haired Chosen, so Zelos dropped the subject. Apparently good conversation wasn't something he could get from the red-clad mercenary. In any case, when they once again reached the purple force field and Zelos figured out how to use the mysterious ring (which turned out to be fairly simple and easy to use), the fire that came from it collided with the field, causing it to disappear. Zelos barely hid his disappointment at this. Everything was working like it should. He was one warp pad away from sealing his fate. Locked in an internal battle of wills, Zelos hesitated before stepping onto the pad with Lloyd. After a few seconds of nothingness, Zelos found himself in a familiar room. The city view from the windows showed how high they really were, but Zelos – having been up here numerous times – paid no attention to it. All his focus was on the object in front of him. The platform that had housed the light of the oracle stood there, waiting to be activated. Standing a little aside from the platform was something he hadn't particularly wanted to see – his sister.

"Oh, you actually showed up," she said in her usual uncaring yet mocking tone.

He smiled dryly. "Lloyd, Seles. Seles, Lloyd." The two stepped forward to greet each other awkwardly. It didn't matter who it was, Seles had no finesse when it came to people; a trait he was glad they didn't share.

"I've heard a lot about you," Lloyd said in a failed attempt to soften the atmosphere.

Seles sneered. "Not surprising. My brother is forced to speak only of others since he himself is little more than his title."

"O-okay?" Lloyd answered alongside Zelos' glare. Even now, she had to act like this.

"Look, just give me my crystal, Seles," he demanded. He'd learned by now that pleasantries were pointless when it came to his sister.

"Is that any way to talk to a lady?" She asked in feigned astonishment. Zelos was all for stalling the event that would eventually lead to his own demise, but not if it meant keeping up a conversation with Seles.

"Seles, don't be difficult."

"Difficult? Why shouldn't I be difficult? It's not like the lowly sister of the Chosen could be anything else."

Aw, great, here's comes the guilt speech. Somehow it managed to rear its ugly head every time they saw each other.

"This stone is the only real purpose I have," she continued sadly, her tone showing her clear need for attention, as always. "And you just want me to give it up?"

A large part of him had been expecting this, but a small part in the back of his head still couldn't actually believe that she was actually going to make a fuss about it.

"For the sake of the ENTIRE WORLD, yeah, I kinda do."

"Hmph," she scoffed, folding her arms. "Saving the world… what do I care about that? I probably won't live long enough to see salvation anyway."

Zelos closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about how much he _really_ didn't want to be doing this before stepping forward.

"Seles, I really couldn't give a-" Suddenly another bright light interrupted him, and all three turned to stare at the now glowing platform. Within moments, a figure emerged. Glowing aura, feathery wings, and a general feeling of light – it was an angel. Unconsciously Zelos took a step closer to the platform, and the winged being floated down closer to them.

"I am Remiel, an angel of judgement. I am here to guide Zelos, son of the mana lineage on his journey of world regeneration," he said in a regal-sounding voice. "The time has come to awaken the Goddess Martel, who sleeps at the centre of the world."

At this point, the angel floated only a few feet above them, and had turned his head toward Seles, who still clutched the crystal into her chest as she backed slowly away from the glowing creature. With a simple wave of his arm, mana began to surge around the crystal, and it pried itself easily from Seles' grasp. Once in the air, the glowing red speck took no time to fly toward Zelos, who didn't flinch as the stone simply obliterated his current Exsphere and key crest to attach itself directly onto his skin. The process was not without pain, and Zelos cringed a little as he felt his own body merge with the stone. A slightly more elaborate gold covering replaced his old key crest, though it did nothing to separate the stone's bond with his chest. He didn't like the feel of its foreign power slithering through his body like some kind of parasite. All through this, Remiel kept talking (he did a lot of talking), and at some point during his talking, the Tower of Salvation appeared. He could tell because even from up here, he could hear the people rejoicing.

"Zelos, Chosen of Regeneration," the angel said, causing the redhead to look up. "Unlock the seals that guard the Tower of Salvation, and climb its stairs to heaven in that distant land."

Zelos knew he was waiting for a response, a confirmation. But that was something Zelos wasn't sure he could give. He'd come all the way up here, he was face to face with an actual angel, but… another strange sensation of something like pain coursed through him from his chest. Of course. It was already too late, wasn't it? The moment he'd allowed this _thing_ to attach itself, he'd said 'yes'.

"…I will," he said slowly, the weight of his words bearing heavily down on him.

Remiel seemed to take no notice of his sorrow. "Very good. We of Cruxis shall grant you the power of the angels with each seal you unlock. Once you are reborn as an angel, this eroded world shall be regenerated."

Zelos nodded, "I will unlock the seals."

"First, head North, to the Seal of Earth. Offer your prayers at that distant altar."

Again, Zelos nodded.

Remiel, having completed his task, began to rise upwards. "Good luck, Chosen One. I shall be awaiting you at the next seal." Moments later, he disappeared the same way he came.

"So that was… an angel…" Seles commented; even she was unable to hide her astonishment. "And to think _you're_ actually going to become one? Hmph."

Both of them ignored the girl's comment, and Lloyd slowly approached the unmoving Chosen, who – since Remiel left – had been staring into space with a blank expression.

"Zelos?" He asked slowly, snapping the Chosen out of his trance. "We should get going."

Zelos said nothing, but moved back towards the warp pad at a quickened pace, stopping only for a moment when he heard his sister's strained voice behind him.

"S-so that's it?" She said through tears, "You're just leaving? What about… I… What do I do now?"

He stepped onto the pad.

"Zelos, wait-!"

"Go home," he told the girl.

She froze. "W-what?"

"I said, go home," he repeated. "You're done here. You should have been done a long time ago." She opened her mouth to speak again, but he stopped her. "Just go home, Seles."

And with that, he activated the pad. All these little things, like his sister's constant and never-ending obsessions over the stupidest of issues– they all just didn't matter anymore. It didn't matter anymore that they each wanted what the other one had, because it was too late for them to ever switch positions. It didn't matter that she might never forgive him, because at this point, what was there to forgive? He didn't need to look down or finger the blood red jewel glinting on his chest to know it was there, he could _feel_ it. Every inch of him could feel it, and it was getting worse as it got better. The crystal spread through him more and more with every passing second, but with every passing second the pain started to ebb away to be replaced with a tense raw feeling inside him. Overall he felt… horrible.

"Are you alright?" Lloyd asked, and Zelos glanced at him.

"No," he answered truthfully. "Did you expect me to be?"

"Hmph," was the only reply given. It was strange; the expression on the brunet's face was less one of concern for the Chosen and more one of… fear? Worry? He realized that he really didn't know the face well enough to properly guess the emotions, so he gave up trying. There were no monsters on the way out of the tower, but Zelos wasn't sure if he felt that was a good or a bad thing. Either way, he was going to have to face what was coming. If he was lucky he had maybe a day, probably not two, and he'd have to say goodbye to the city forever.

Due mostly to the lack of monsters and other obstacles, the two soon found themselves back in the main entrance of the temple, where they were awaited by the same anxious priests as before.

"C-chosen One!!" They cried in varying tones of amazement upon seeing him. Their keen eyes looked him over briefly before settling on one spot – the Cruxis Crystal on his chest. Seeing this, their eyes widened.

"You've received the oracle…" The head priest said, more to himself. Zelos nodded. "Then, the journey of regeneration can finally begin!"

Again, Zelos nodded, and made an effort to wipe the cold depression from his face. Of all things, that's not what the people needed to see right now.

"Oh, bless you, Chosen one, bless you!" Another priest cheered. Their faces were much brighter than he'd seen them in many months. Suddenly another face entered the room; it was the captain of the city's few remaining militia. Zelos had almost forgotten about him.

"Chosen One," he greeted, bowing slightly in respect. "I am glad to see that you are alright. We have done as you asked – it seems that the Renegades wasted no time in escaping, and no one was harmed. However, after the Tower of Salvation appeared, it has been rather difficult to control the people…"

"Good job, Captain!" Zelos told him as happily as he could in an attempt to ease the soldier's nerves. "Don't worry about the people, they just wanna see their precious Chosen all safe and sound and regenerating."

"That was my belief also, sir."

"Right. So no worries, they just need a little attention," he told him, and then his face grew more serious, "However, there are a few things I wanted to talk to you about in regards to the Renegade attack."

The captain nodded. "Understood, Chosen One. We recently received word that Her Majesty would like a meeting with you at the closest available time."

This was something that Zelos had expected to happen, and he was well prepared.

"Tell Her Majesty I'd be honoured if she'd join me for dinner tonight. She'll know where to go. And when."

"Very well, sir," he said with a nod before turning to leave. "Will there be anything else? A few knights for protection, perhaps?"

The distaste in his voice was unmistakable, as was its meaning. Zelos found it incredibly amusing that, despite the fact that Lloyd had done nothing wrong, it was clear that he wasn't trusted. But, as amusing as it would be to see the teen's face if he agreed to bring more adequate protection, he didn't want extra baggage. He'd send the kid away too, if he could.

"That won't be necessary Captain, just deliver the message and leave the rest to me," Zelos told him with the smile of bemusement still on his face. The captain nodded in classic military fashion before heading swiftly out of the room. After a few moments, Zelos followed him.

Stepping out into the still cold air of the afternoon, Zelos was a little surprised at what he saw. Mass crowds of people weren't an unfamiliar sight; it was the atmosphere and the sheer size of the crowd that surprised him. The square was completely filled, which to be honest, he didn't think was possible with the city's dwindling population. Combined with the ecstatic attitudes and the Tower of Salvation hanging from the skyline, it was almost as if Zelos was back home in the Meltokio that had been. For a moment the sky wasn't grey, the people weren't starving, the buildings weren't crumbling, and they were gathered in the square for an everyday celebration of some sort. The vision of happiness and life was slow to fade, but Zelos held onto it as long as he could. He was going to need it a lot in the coming future.

It wasn't long, of course, before he was spotted exiting the temple, and they swarmed him. Not at all like the mob of this morning, where desperation and fear had been their driving emotions. Now it was hope and happiness that ruled over the crowd, and Zelos was soon ushered over the near centre for an unannounced speech that while not planned, seemed mandatory. The good cheer made it easy for Zelos to work out his words in his mind: words to encourage them, and solidify the hopes and dreams made by the appearance of the Tower of Salvation. It was an easy task considering it was something that he'd been doing his entire life, and time seemed to pass quickly as he spoke to the people.

They cheered, cried, and were undoubtedly inspired by his speech from beginning to end, and Zelos was overall rather glad of it. It'd been a long time since he'd gotten the chance to do something like this. But even so, he had to be going; his day wasn't nearly over yet. So, after more than a few minutes of negotiating his release from his loving fans, he managed to escape and set off towards his home. After a moment, he smiled.

"_Still_ following me, huh?" He asked his red-clad shadow.

"Technically I'm not following you; there could be any number of dangers between here and your house."

"And inside my house?"

"Could be danger there, too."

"I figured as much," he said, fiddling with his sleeve. "Well, much as I really, _really_ hate to admit it, you were sorta helpful back there…"

"Heh."

"Hey, don't get smug now; this doesn't happen very often, so just be grateful. Anyway, like I said, it wasn't so bad having you around – someone to do the dirty work, that kinda thing – so I might be willing to take you along on my little journey."

"Oh, really?" He answered in sarcasm.

"Maybe. But it's not me you're gonna have to convince," he told him, smirking slightly. "It's everyone else." The teen made no reply, and Zelos said no more. Both were too busy thinking to take part in idle conversation. That, and Zelos' house wasn't actually that far from the main square, so they didn't have that much time before Zelos once again opened the tall oak doors, welcoming the sense of relief and comfort he got from seeing the familiar space. Behind him, Lloyd entered without invitation through the door Zelos had purposefully left open. Stealthily, Zelos listened for any signs of the brunet's reaction – a startled gasp, slight stumble, anything at all. There was nothing. Whoever this guy was, he was clearly used to the privileged life.

It hadn't been a minute before the redhead heard footsteps approaching and Sebastian entered the room.

"Master Zelos, so good to see you're all right," he greeted with the perfect amount of un-enthusiasm someone in his profession would have. Politely, he gestured towards Lloyd "And, you are…?"

"Oh, he's just my new bud," Zelos said quickly before Lloyd could even open his mouth to speak. "Actually, he's a mercenary I've decided to hire to protect me on my journey."

"I see," he said, thinking for a moment before turning to face Lloyd completely. "Then it is a pleasure to meet you, Sir Bud."

Zelos was a second too late to conceal his short laugh at hearing the new title picked out for the teen by his butler. Behind him, he heard Lloyd struggling to find the right words to say.

"M-my name's not 'Sir Bud'…" He said a little too quietly, quiet enough that Sebastian could go about his duties and pretend to have heard nothing.

"Will Sir Bud be joining us for the night?" He inquired to his master.

The question caught Zelos by surprise, but not overly so. "I suppose. I doubt he has anywhere else to go."

"I have more than enough Gald to purchase a room at the inn for a night," he suggested.

Zelos gave another short laugh, and Sebastian shook his head, "The inn in Meltokio is no place for anyone to stay, I'm afraid. The Desians frequent there, and while it remains open…"

"The beds here are nicer anyway," Zelos interjected as he moved towards the grand staircase. "Besides, don't you want to be here when I'm viciously attacked in my sleep?"

"Very well," the teen agreed, without much prodding.

This seemed to cheer Sebastian up. "Excellent, I'll prepare one of the guest rooms. In the meantime, will either of you be requiring a meal?"

"Not today, Sebastian; as much as I love your sauces, my mercenary and I have a prior arrangement with Her Majesty."

"I see. Very well, perhaps a change of attire, then?" He said, his keen eyes looking over Lloyd once more.

"Sounds great," Zelos confirmed before starting up the stairs. "Oh, and Lloyd, you can just hang around here for while and Sebastian'll show you to your room."

The brunet nodded, and Zelos turned to enter his room. He did love his room. It, like the rest of the house, was decorated superbly to give off the clear impression of wealth. This had always been his room, ever since the day he was born. Naturally it was also the biggest, most extravagant part of the entire house, with its custom-made and larger than master sized bed, its fully equipped en-suite, and, of course, the marble balcony that overlooked the entire estate. The balcony's view, however, was never what had interested him. What _had_ interested him was the perfectly climbable wall of ivy growing conveniently right beside it. Before he'd come into complete ownership of his house it had served as the perfect means of secret escape and late night entry to and from his room. Nowadays such a roundabout entrance was unnecessary, but he still found himself scaling down the familiar vines every now and then.

Sadly, Zelos sank down into the comfort of his four poster bed, realizing that he'd never use those vines again – that this would be his last night in his bed, and that he'd probably never see any of his house ever again. And on that thought, who would? Seles, he supposed, would inhabit the family home for a few years, before either her fatal illness or her pessimistic attitude (or, more likely, a combination of the two) killed her off. But… what then? When all the Wilders were gone and dead? If he did manage to somehow regenerate the world, maybe they'd keep the place up and running as a memorial or something. Somehow, he doubted that would happen, but it was a much nicer thought than him failing to regenerate the world and his family name and home crumbling away with the rest of the remnants of Tethe'alla's brief blip of wealth and happiness.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Sebastian entered, carrying with him a fresh set of clothes and a tray of tea. After a small greeting, he placed the clothes on a nearby chair and the tea on top of the table beside it.

"Thanks," Zelos said as he walked over to inspect the clothing.

"Not at all, Master Zelos," the old man said kindly. Sebastian… he was going to miss that guy too. Like the room, Sebastian had always been there as a main part of his life, and Zelos would be sad to let him go. Noticing the redhead's solemn attitude, the butler said, "Is there something wrong, sir?"

The question seemed odd under the circumstances, but Zelos shook his head. "Not really, just thinking about… leaving."

"Ah," he said knowingly. "Have you decided yet when you will be departing?"

"Probably first thing tomorrow, I guess," he answered with a shrug. "Not really any point in delaying it."

"That is true," he agreed, looking over his master carefully. "You know, I am quite proud of you."

The words came as a surprise to Zelos. The butler had never said anything of the like before; he'd never had to. Curiously, Zelos stayed silent, allowing the man to continue uninhibited.

"I remember when you were just a boy, the day you learned about your place in the world, and the truth of the regeneration journey. Never before in my twelve years of serving you had I seen you so upset," he paused to allow the memories of the day to sink in. Zelos remembered it all too clearly; he'd always been treated with the highest regard, but he'd never thought that he'd regret learning _why_. As a child – no, even now – the idea of giving his life away for any reason frightened him. The priests had been beyond disappointed when they saw that his reaction to the news wasn't a proud sense of duty and honour, as they had felt it should be. Their expectations of a twelve-year-old had been unfair, after all; how would anyone react to being told that your future will be forfeited for the good of the people? One life for the sake of many… the idea sounded great – unless the one life was yours. But, of course, no one would be able to see it that way, because no one in that position would ever live to tell the tale. The day he'd found out about his impeding sacrifice, he'd… well…

"You cried for _hours_…" Sebastian continued, shaking his head lightly while Zelos fidgeted.

"Not my best moment..." The redhead admitted with a small grin.

"Yes, you cried, but never again after that. For thirteen years you have carried the burden of what must come without once showing any signs of difficulty. There are few who could do that." Sebastian paused for a moment before continuing, "I am sad that you have to go, but I know it is for the best. Tethe'alla is failing, Master Zelos, but you can save it. You can bring peace to the world, you can save the people, and you can free them. Master Zelos, you mustn't be afraid that you must go; you must carry the knowledge that you will succeed." Softly, he placed one hand on his master's shoulder, and looked at him in a deeply caring and fatherly way that Zelos had never seen before, "Oh, I am going to miss you."

And with that, the old butler left the room silently, leaving Zelos again sitting on the bed, a few stray tears on his cheeks. Sebastian had such faith in him; the _world_ had such faith in him… Just how was he going to keep this up? He had no idea what was going to happen in the next few months. All he knew was what _should_ happen, and of course, what _would_ happen were he to fail. They were all counting on him. It wasn't a very safe bet, placing everything they had on one person, but they were doing it. Hoping was all they, as people, could do to aid in the regeneration of the world. _He_, however, was not so lucky. Now, like so many other times, he wished more than anything that he wasn't the Chosen of Regeneration.

* * *

Wow, I am SO pleased with myself for actually posting this on time. I'm giving myself a very well-deserved pat on the back. So, you guys think I can keep it up for next week? I really doubt it. But I shall try!

Exams are starting on the...15th? Yeah, 15th, so expect less chapters then. Well, I really HOPE there's less chapters then, cause if theres not less chapters I am SO gonna fail...

Hmm...what else to say... well, the next chapters gonna start in my wonderful Lloyds POV, so all you Lloyd fangirls can look forward to that. To all you Zelos fangirls, don't worry, it'll switch back to Zelos soon enough. And then hey! Regeneration Journey's starting! Excitement!

I have to do some other writing before I do chapter 3, but I'm still hoping to get it done before next Sunday.

OH! and a round of applause for my wonderful editor Thingbe, who got this chapter edited really really fast! (Thank her lots, she makes this stuff readable.)

Once again, please review! I LOVED all the reviews I've gotten so far. ToS readers are my favorite kind of people, you ALL seem to review.


	3. Chapter 3

AWWWW YEAH. Only a week late. Not bad, eh? AND I'm having a total lack of writers block on this fic, so you can probably expect the next chapter sooner rather than later!

Heh, anyways, I enjoyed writing this chapter... a lot. Probably cause theirs so much Lloyd... Isn't Lloyd just AWESOME?

Right, right, disclaimer: ToS is owned by the all powerful Namco, not me. I am just a lowly servant who buys all their games. And then makes fanfics on them. :D

* * *

Chapter 3 – Sewage Problems

The first thing that went through Lloyd's mind as he sat down on his assigned bed was that his hosts hadn't been lying to him – their beds _were_ comfy. This comfort plus one too many bad experiences in run-down Sylvaranti inns made Lloyd especially thankful that he would be spending the night here. Well, that and he _was_ here to protect the Chosen and all… _The Chosen_… That just didn't sound right, even in his mind. The only thing those words brought were painful memories of… _her._

And that was definitely not a good subject to be thinking about right now.

He reached up to fiddle with the collar of the shirt Sebastian had given to him after showing him the room. While he was sure that the clothes were the highest fashion in Meltokio, Lloyd liked his older and much more comfortable clothes better. On the whole, he didn't really approve of changing outfits just to go see someone, but it seemed to be the trend with people in power – after all, Lord Yggdrasill always did like to see the Aurions in their matching Cruxis outfits. So he was left to put up with the itchy collar, the uncomfortably tight pants, and the ridiculous amount of white that, like his Cruxis outfit, was going to be impossible to keep clean. It wasn't too hard to take his mind off it; he was sort of interested in the night's happenings. Cruxis had information on almost anything you could think of, but Meltokio's shaky political structure was not one of them. All he knew was that at some point soon after the Desians arrived, the king had died and his daughter – the then Princess Hilda – had taken over the throne. The odd thing was, however, that no one had seen the princess (or, rather, queen) since the king's death.

Suddenly Lloyd heard footsteps approaching, and moments later there was a small knock at the door as Sebastian entered the room once again.

"Ah, Sir Bud, Master Zelos would like for you to meet him downstairs in the lounge. I believe you two have a dinner party to attend."

It was a party now? Lloyd immediately stood and reached for his twin blades which were currently sitting beside him on the bed. "Thanks, Sebastian," he said, having already given up on trying to convince the old man of his proper name. "Tell him I'll be right down."

"Very well, sir," he said simply before exiting. Lloyd rushed to strap his swords onto his ensemble (which conveniently included two belts) and headed out through the door.

Sure enough, upon entering the lounge he found Zelos sitting on the couch wearing an outfit similar to his own but with more colour (figures…) and with a significantly greater amount of frill and embroidery. Another notable change was that the man had his hair braided; it seemed like all of these things combined gave him an even greater aura of pride and style than before. Zelos quickly noticed Lloyd's presence and stood, smiling slightly, to look Lloyd over.

"Not bad… Not bad at all…" he said, nodding in approval. Lloyd glanced away a little, not liking the scrutiny. This, of course, made Zelos laugh before he headed to the main door, Lloyd following behind. "So, we all ready to go?"

"Go where, exactly?" Lloyd asked the redhead.

Zelos shook his head. "You'll see when we get there." And with that, they stepped out into the cold night air.

It seemed odd to Lloyd that it was so dark out; he didn't think it was that late yet, but (like the last time he had left Welgaia) it was probably going to take him a while to get used to things like that.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Lloyd could no longer help himself. "There's no one here," he said as he looked around the barren streets.

Zelos gave him a sidelong glance. "Good observation…" he said mockingly.

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "I meant to ask _why_ there isn't anyone here. This morning there was-"

"This morning there was the oracle," the redhead interrupted sternly. "This morning there was an entire patrol of armed Tethe'allan knights circling the square. What do you see now?"

Lloyd frowned at the question. "Uh, nothing?"

Zelos gave him a look, "Well, yeah, nothing. As in no guards, no protection, nothing to keep the bloodthirsty half-elves at bay."

"Desians," Lloyd corrected automatically.

"Is there a difference?" Zelos asked with a short laugh.

Lloyd looked at him. "Not all half-elves are evil. Think of the ones here in Meltokio-"

"You mean the ones in the square today?" He interrupted. "Yeah, they seemed _real_ harmless."

Lloyd's eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about the man's words. "I-I meant-"

"The half-elves in the Imperial Research Academy?" Zelos took the teen's silence for a 'yes'. "They were the first to be given up to the Desians in the hope of safety for the Tethe'allan people. This didn't work out too well, of course, the Desians being half-elves themselves and all, but they did take them off our hands for us." Zelos turned to look pointedly at the troubled brunet, "Of course, that information is common knowledge for all the people of Tethe'alla."

After a series of mental profanities, Lloyd was still unable to come up with anything to explain his lack of knowledge (which wasn't really true; now that he thought about it he _did_ remember his father telling him about something like that before he left... too bad he was too busy not listening to hear...), so he decided to instead keep his mouth shut and allow the redhead his moment of grandeur.

This painful experience was enough to keep Lloyd's questioning mouth firmly closed for the majority of the trip, but when the braided-haired redhead stooped to open a large sewer grate and then held one arm out inviting the Cruxis angel to step inside, Lloyd had to ask, "We're…going into the sewers?"

Zelos smiled. "Well, I am. I just assumed you would follow."

The carefree and amused attitude was not something Lloyd expected from a man about to climb into a rather small and ripe-smelling hole. "You're kidding, right?"

"Whatever, it's your choice," he said with a small sigh before sliding down the small ladder. After a moment's indecision, Lloyd followed him.

"Okay," Lloyd said as his feet touched the ground, "why are we in a sewer?"

The other man gave no answer; he just started to walk again. Thoroughly confused and very quickly becoming agitated with the lack of information, Lloyd followed after him. The teen was so very busy not getting annoyed with the silent redhead that he almost didn't notice when they turned the corner to find a complete change of surroundings.

"Whoa…" Lloyd said, stopping and looking all around in amazement. They hadn't left the sewers, of course; they'd just turned into a different tunnel, this one being the complete opposite of everything you would think would be in a sewer. First of all, it was incredibly and _flawlessly_ clean. Not a speck of dirt of grime or sewage, just shiny, polished grey stone. Lloyd also noticed the candle holders were now solid gold, and there was an expensive-looking red carpet under his feet. Then he noticed that Zelos had continued walking without him, forcing the boy to run to catch up. Zelos didn't seem to be having any reaction at all to the exceedingly odd surroundings. Of course, Lloyd realized, he'd probably been down here a lot to go wherever it was they were headed now. Then, a thought struck him.

"The queen's down here?"

"Yep," he answered simply. He almost sounded bored.

"And you don't find this all a little… strange?" Lloyd asked as they passed by a suit of armour and a priceless painting.

Zelos shrugged. "If this is what Hilda wants."

"But _why_?" Lloyd continued, unable to curb his curiosity.

"Well, it'd probably be best to ask her yourself, but…" he clasped his hands behind his head. "I figure it's a pride thing. It must be pretty hard being the queen of all of Tethe'alla and have to hide out in a sewer, don'tcha think?"

Lloyd didn't answer, but he supposed what Zelos was saying made some sense. As they continued down the halls they passed a few knights here and there; nothing much. By the end of their trek Lloyd had come to two conclusions: either Zelos was right and the Queen was just trying to hold on to some semblance of her pride as a member of the monarchy, or, in all the horrors of recent years, she'd gone insane. Probably both. That was about as far as Lloyd got to thinking out his impression of the queen before Zelos stopped at an especially elaborate doorway protected by two knights. They seemed more than happy to allow Zelos entrance, but Lloyd was another story…

"Chosen One, it is forbidden to allow strangers anywhere near this room. We cannot allow him entrance to Her Majesty," one of the tall knights told them.

Zelos put one arm on the knight's shoulder. "C'mon, Lloyd's no stranger, he's Lloyd! He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"That's not what the reports of this morning's action in the square say…"

"I said he wouldn't hurt flies, not half-elves," the redhead countered, but the man still wouldn't budge. "Just let him in! You wouldn't refuse the Chosen of Regeneration, would you?"

The knight faltered, "I-I don't want to, but-"

"Sir Zelos?" All men turned in surprise to see the golden-haired figure in the doorway. If anything had seemed a strange thing to see in a sewer, nothing was as strange as her. She was the perfect incarnation of wealth and royalty, even down here. She wore a beautiful red and gold gown, and her long curled hair was pulled out of her face but fell gracefully down her back and past her shoulder blades. She stood looking at Zelos for a moment and then turned to the guard. "What is the meaning of this? I have told you more than once that I was expecting the Chosen, and yet you still bar his entrance?"

"M-milady, my deepest apologies," the shining man mumbled, bowing down on one knee. "I was prepared to allow the Chosen One inside, but he insisted upon bringing another with him and I-"

"Another?" She questioned, only just now looking around her and noticing Lloyd's presence. Slowly she moved from the doorway and towards him. "And just who, may I ask, are you, sir?"

"I'm Lloyd," he said quickly, awkwardly. She raised one brow.

"Lloyd?"

"Lloyd Aurion."

"I see…" She said, before turning her back to him. "Zelos, who is this boy?"

"He's my mercenary." The redhead answered with a slightly amused expression on his face.

"Mercenary?" She repeated.

"Mhm, my paid protection and my newest bud!"

The queen seemed to need no further explanation. "Guard?" She asked sternly.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I am displeased with your actions today. From now on you will remember that the Chosen and anyone he brings here are to be welcomed with open arms. I trust the Chosen with my life, and therefore I trust that he knows not to bring danger to these halls. You should do the same."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now then," she turned back to the doorway. "My apologies for the misunderstanding. Chosen One, Sir Aurion, please come in."

Lloyd had expected to see something like what the rest of the sewers had been, but instead it now felt as though he had left the sewer completely. It was a mid-sized circular room, and every inch of wall, floor, and even ceiling had been covered with decorations, carpet, or just plain fabric to completely block out any hint of sewer. It even _smelled_ nice in here. As far as furniture went, it looked quite comfortable. There was a smallish round table with cushioned seats, a large wooden desk laden with papers, a few stray bookshelves stuffed with books and… stuffed animals? Really? He also saw that part of the room had been sectioned off with the same heavy maroon curtain that served as the door; this one he guessed hid the bedroom area.

"Please, sit," she said, pulling Lloyd from his thoughts as she motioned towards the cushy chairs. All three of them took a seat with Zelos and Hilda sitting next to each other. Lloyd, not knowing where else to go, sat at the opposite end. Luckily the table was small enough that this wouldn't hinder conversation in the slightest. It was here that Lloyd noticed that the table was set with plates, forks, spoons, knives, glasses – everything. For a moment Lloyd was almost frightened. First of all, he hated eating with higher-class people because there were so many things one needed to concentrate on remembering that you could never actually _enjoy_ the meal, and secondly because there was no way he'd be able to refuse any food (even his mortal enemy, tomatoes) because not only was he the guest, but there were massive food shortages in Tethe'alla these days. Anything they spared for him was a sacrifice for someone out there. His worst fears were confirmed when one by one, servants appeared, bringing in plates of ridiculously small morsels of food: appetizers.

As they brought the food in, Hilda began to speak. "Congratulations on your success today, Chosen One. I wish I could go and see the Tower of Salvation myself."

"A few months and you will," Zelos told her.

"Of course, you're right…" she said, an odd look going over her face. "You know, sometimes it's hard to believe we've actually gotten this far, that we've actually survived."

Lloyd tried his best, he really did, but he couldn't help the wave of thoughts that came over him. Tethe'alla had been in decline for what, three years? They didn't even qualify for aid from Cruxis. Of course, they _did_ have aid from Cruxis, but that was for other reasons. Perhaps it wasn't really fair for him to judge them, though. After all, Tethe'alla had been in prosperity for a _long_ time, and even before that, Sylvarant had never managed to achieve this level of technology. To rise so high and then to fall so far... it must have been difficult.

"We're not out of the woods yet, Your Highness," Zelos said hesitantly. "Nothing about this journey sounds easy; I still might not-"

"Oh, I have faith in you, Chosen One," she said, smiling as she drank from the wine that was set down in front of her. Lloyd noticed that Zelos' face shared none of her 'faith'. He looked sort of hopeless, like he… did he think he would fail?

"Wine?" The servant's simple question caught Lloyd off-guard, and he took a moment to answer.

"Um…" Wine? They had to serve wine? Okay, yes, he was technically old enough (not that Welgaia had a legal drinking age or anything) but Lloyd plus alcohol equalled…well, he wasn't really sure, but Kratos had once said that it was probably safer that way, and Lloyd agreed. "N-no, thank you," he answered quietly, then tried desperately to avoid Hilda's confused stare and Zelos' amused laugh as they both drank deep into their glasses. Thankfully, it wasn't long before conversation started up again, and Lloyd was perfectly happy to sit and listen while he concentrated on how to eat his first course.

"I suppose you've already decided when you're leaving, and where you're headed?" The blonde asked.

Zelos nodded. "We'll be going with what was previously discussed; all the preparations have already been made."

"Of course," she said, blushing slightly. "I'm sorry, everything's been planned for so long that I suppose this meeting is sort of pointless…"

"Don't be silly," Zelos assured her. "And besides, there's no place I'd rather be in my last night in the city."

"If you can call this place a part of Meltokio…" she said sadly.

Zelos smiled. "The very best part, so long as _you're_ here, my dear Queen."

The blonde blushed, and ate another green pastry-like thing that Lloyd had no name for. "I'm afraid that I'm going to miss you when you're gone, Chosen One," she admitted sheepishly.

Zelos smiled, "And that, my lady, is my greatest regret: not being able to see you or this wonderful city again after we depart tomorrow."

She frowned, "Pardon me, Chosen One, but you keep saying 'we'; who exactly do you intend to take with you? The captain of the guard told me you refused his services."

"I've decided to go for a more discreet form of protection," he told her as he picked up his glass. "I intend to take Lloyd here along with me."

Lloyd watched as the woman's shocked eyes flashed over him. "You intend to take _him_?"

"Is there a problem?" The redhead asked her calmly.

She gave no answer, just continued to examine the brunet with her green eyes. Before long conversation picked up once more, this time focusing on everything from casual topics of daily activities to the supplies and equipment needed for the journey tomorrow. Lloyd slipped in and out of interest, and like at most 'dinner parties' he was quickly becoming… well, bored. The others seemed quite happy to leave him out of their conversation, something Lloyd was thankful for. Just as the topic of schooling and education came about, the servants brought in the next item of the dinner list. Lloyd had become less and less worried something tomato-y would show up as time went by; so far, he had been incredibly lucky with the food choices. Now his luck seemed to have run out as they placed in front of him a fair-sized bowl of stew. It did look delicious, and he couldn't _see_ any tomatoes in it, but something was very familiar about it… the answer came to him the moment he put the first spoonful into his mouth. He'd had the stew before, and he knew where – Genis used to make it. The moment the realization came to him, he froze, only vaguely aware of the loud clash of his spoon falling into the bowl from his trembling hand. The other two looked at him in surprise.

"Hey, Lloyd, you alright?" Zelos asked. Lloyd could hear the concern in his voice.

"I'm… fine," he answered, staring hard at the wood of the table. The thought, the memory, it had come without warning, but Lloyd was prepared for it. He continued staring at the table top until his mind moved forcibly away from the dangerous subject.

"A-are you sure?" The queen asked, either worried or disturbed. Lloyd couldn't tell, but he did know that he had to reassure them.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said, turning now to look back at them. "Sorry."

"Well, perhaps now is a good time for a break," she clapped her hands, and a servant came running. "Chosen One, I've had this young lad set aside some of my family's equipment in the other room. I'd like you to take all you can use on your journey, but I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea what would be of use. Perhaps you could…?"

"It would be my pleasure, Your Highness," he answered, standing from his chair. "I'll go see if there's anything useful."

"Excellent. My servant here will show you were everything is. I'll wait here with Sir Aurion until your return."

He nodded, bowed, kissed her hand, and then left the room with the servant boy. This left Lloyd all alone in the room with the strange ruler, something he wasn't particularly happy about. Suddenly she stood from her chair and closed the short distance between them to sit in the chair nearest him.

"Lloyd Aurion."

"Yes?" He asked nervously.

"I'm going to be very honest with you, and in return I'd like for you to be very honest with me," she told him, never looking away from his eyes.

After a moment, Lloyd nodded. "Alright."

Her face softened a little then, "Good. Now, the Chosen wishes for you to join him on the journey of regeneration. He seems quite confident in his choice; I, however, am not."

Lloyd frowned. This was what Zelos had been talking about earlier; he was going to have to convince this queen to let him go too.

"Your Highness," he said awkwardly, "I am a mercenary. While I may have never been a part of something as grand as the journey of regeneration, I assure you that I can handle it. But beyond that, I, like all the people of Tethe'alla, only want what's best for Tethe'alla and its people." He paused for a moment. "I promise that I will do everything in my power to save this world."

"I believe you," she answered, her voice soft. "But that is not the promise I want you to make." This caused Lloyd to frown in confusion, and she explained, "If you are to accompany the Chosen, our very last and most precious hope, then you must promise not to protect the world, you must promise to do everything you possibly can to protect _him_."

The differences between those two promises were immense, and he wondered for a moment if she knew to what extent. Only one of the promises, the one he had already made, could he actually keep, and beyond that, they contradicted each other. He couldn't save Zelos without dooming Tethe'alla, and he couldn't save Tethe'alla without dooming Zelos. But she didn't know this; or, if she did, she was very stupid.

"I've made my promise," he said to her simply. She opened her mouth to protest, but he continued. "Your Majesty, please try to understand. It doesn't matter what you say; when Zelos leaves tomorrow, I will be with him whether you like it or not."

She set her jaw. "We will not let you. The Meltokio knights will-"

"Your Highness, I have no intention or desire to rob this city and its inhabitants of its last mode of defence against the Desians, but I will do what I must, and you cannot stop me." She looked close to tears, but he continued, slowly now. "It is in no way a necessity, but I would like to leave this city with your support."

For a long while, she was silent before she answered. "Then you shall have it, Lloyd Aurion."

There were a few moments of silence before Zelos entered the room again, still empty-handed, and Hilda silently returned to her seat.

"Hey everybody," he said, smiling. "Sorry I took so long."

"Not at all," Hilda said a little too calmly; Zelos could tell something had happened, but he didn't seem too surprised by it. "Did you not find anything useful?"

Zelos shook his head. "Nah, most of it was just really pretty, not really for use in actual battles."

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry to have troubled you then..."

"No problem," he told her, still smiling. "Besides, looks like it gave you two a chance to get to know each other."

%%%%%%%%%

"…Goodbye," Zelos said solemnly from where he sat on the roof of his house. He was taking these few minutes he had left to say farewell to the familiar streets, buildings, and people of his city. The sun was just rising, so most people weren't even awake yet. It had been decided last night that earlier was better for departure. Zelos had left all the last-minute packing, planning, and preparations to Sebastian so he could have this time to himself; not even Lloyd had followed him up here. But, his goodbyes were done and it was time to go, so he stood quickly to jump down and into his front yard. Walking into the house he saw Lloyd shouldering a heavy-looking pack and talking to Sebastian. Both of them turned to look at him as he entered.

"We ready to go?" Zelos asked plainly. Lloyd nodded, walking over to him, and Zelos turned to his last remaining goodbye. "Well, Sebastian, looks like this is it."

The old man nodded slowly, "Indeed, Master Zelos, this is it."

They locked eyes, and Zelos suddenly wrapped his arms around the older man. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Master Zelos," he answered when the pink-clad man had released him.

Zelos had known that this would be the most painful goodbye, and also the most necessary. As he and Lloyd walked out the door he turned to wave. "Take care of this place while I'm gone, will ya?"

"As always, Master Zelos."

The walk from there to the city gates seemed unreasonably short, and their plan of leaving early seemed to have worked, as they only ran into a handful of people. The lower levels of the city were as depressing as ever to see, the once lively shops and homes all trashed and brought to ruin. It was a small comfort to think that maybe once he was done this journey, all of that would change. They reached the city gates (though the actual _gates_ were long since removed) and Zelos paused for a moment. Lloyd, who hadn't said anything until now, did the same.

"You know, this doesn't have to be goodbye…" he said hesitantly.

Zelos didn't look at him, "No?"

"We can come back as many times as you want while we're on this continent," he said, trying in vain to cheer the Chosen up.

Zelos laughed dryly at the attempt. "Promise?"

He heard the teen mumble something about fixations on making promises, "Yeah, I promise."

Zelos smiled, taking one step out onto the soft dirt outside the city. "Alright then," he turned to look back at Lloyd. "Let's go save the world."

* * *

Eeeeee! Excitement! Excitement! The journey begins! Next chapter is gonna be SO MUCH FUN. But I sadly have other fics that I need to stop neglecting... eh.

SUMMERS COMING. HUZZAH. You know what that means??? Absolutely zero distractions from fic writing! Well, except for sleep...and I do like sleep. But still! I'm hoping to really put the pedal to the metal this summer with my writing. As far as ToS fics go...I should be starting 2 or 3 more, plus a pile of hopefully cute one shots.

uhhhh...Right! Reveiws! I don't think I can ever express enough how much I love you people. Your reveiws are AMAZING(and probably the reason why I've only been writing this fic...) so keep it up! And also, if there's any ideas you have, or any things you'd like to see, go ahead and suggest 'em. I have the plot pretty much figured out, but I wanna do my best to make you guys happy. Cause like I said, YOU'RE AWESOME.

Ah, and my wonderful editor Thingbe is sick with the...well, I have no idea, but she's sick, so wish her well everyone! She loves you reviewers just as much as I do!

And I think that about covers everything. Oh, and to the ton of people who wished me luck on my exams, a special thanks to you!

Until next week, goodbye!


	4. Chapter 4

AHHHH! Look, I'm back from the dead with a new chapter! Okay, that sounded cooler in my head... anyway...

The point is, I haven't written anything for a while! And now I have, so rejoice!

DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I don't own Tales of Symphonia....I can't think of a clever comment...-SHAME-

Enjoy the chapter!

**

* * *

****Chapter 4 – Silver and Gold**

"What a dump."

"This is the Temple of Earth. It's a sacred place; you really shouldn't call it a dump," the brunet said with a small sigh.

"Well, no other word comes to mind..." The reluctant chosen commented as he avoided a crumbling piece of rock. "Seriously, you guys couldn't have put a little more effort into building this?"

"I didn't build it."

"Yeah, but Cruxis did, so..."

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Riiiight," Zelos said, eyeing the boy. "Well, either way, I'm still not sure how comfortable I am about this 'temple'. What assurance do I have that's it's not gonna cave in on my beautiful face?"

Lloyd thought for a moment. "This place has been here for more than four thousand years, so if it was gonna fall, I think it would have done so already. Also..." he smirked a little, "I'm here to protect you."

"..._Fine_," the red head finished after a moment, Lloyd's face brightening with success as the two headed into the mouth of the cave. It didn't get any better as they continued. All that changed was that it was getting darker, rockier, and generally more unpleasant. It was surprisingly dry for a cave, though. Zelos' eyes adjusted to the new lighting, and he noticed that not far head there was a really weird-looking device.

"What the heck is that?" Zelos asked slowly upon their approach.

Lloyd frowned as he answered, "It's an... uh..."

Zelos laughed a little. "You don't know?"

Lloyd hung his head. "It's a... thing... Look, just put the sorcerers ring in it."

Still laughing lightly, the red head pulled his bag from his shoulder and shuffled through it for a moment before finding the ring with a small "Ah-hah!".

Lloyd watched him curiously. "Why don't you just wear it?"

Zelos shrugged. "Rings aren't really my thing. Besides," he smiled, "it doesn't really match my outfit."

Complying with the boy's first request, Zelos held the ring out into the glowing ball of... whatever it was. Instantly the ring began to glow brightly and burn a little before Zelos brought it away from the machine again.

"Woah!" He exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Use the ring," Lloyd informed him, looking slightly amused.

Frowning a little, Zelos turned and aimed the ring into the nearby chasm and activated it. Surprisingly, no ball of fire came out the end, just this weird sort of... force that circled him as it headed into the ground, causing a fairly powerful earthquake.

"WOAH!" He exclaimed even louder than before, quickly backing away from the chasm as the whole cave shook. "That is SO not safe!"

"I-it'll be fine!" Lloyd said, attempting to reassure the both of them. "Like I said, this place has been standing for over four thousand years; there's no way one little earthquake is gonna-" He stopped as they both watched four tall stalagmites crumble ahead of them.

"You just _had_ to say something, huh?"

Lloyd smiled weakly. "C'mon, it's not all bad! We would've needed to knock those down anyway, see?"

Zelos looked. He was right; the pillars of stone had been blocking the only available path. "Whatever, let's just get this over with," he said, walking forward and tossing the small yet dangerous ring over to Lloyd, who caught it easily. Noting the brunet's look of confusion, Zelos explained, "I saw the way you looked at that thing; you totally wanted to try it out. Plus this way, when it causes half the mountain to collapse, I can just tell people you did it."

"Thanks," Lloyd answered dryly, though Zelos saw him smile as he slipped the ring onto his finger. Neither of the boys were paying close attention to where they were going, and so neither of them noticed the small gnome-like creature before they were nearly on top of it.

"HEY!" Came a squeaky voice from bellow. Zelos jumped a little in surprise, and turned his gaze downward to find... well, he wasn't exactly sure how to describe it. It looked like a really little... man, or something.

"Woah..." He heard Lloyd say beside him. He sounded as bewildered and scared as Zelos was. "What the hell _is_ that thing?"

"Who you callin' 'thing'?! You wanna fight or something?!"

"... Did that thing just try to threaten you?" Zelos asked, debating whether or not he should be backing away slowly.

"I'm not a 'thing' damn it!! I'm Gnomelette 5!!"

"Is that even a name?" Lloyd asked quietly.

"Hell yes it's a name! It's a million times better than your name!" The small creature shouted.

Zelos smirked. "Yeah, okay. Well, if you'd like to step aside, we've got to be going now..." He stepped forward, but the little man made no movement whatsoever; he just laughed.

"Ha! I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you two _losers_."

"Why not?" Lloyd asked.

"'Cause!" The Gnomelette answered, crossing his miniature arms. "Big Brother said not to let any Desians in the temple."

Zelos stared at the creature. "We're not Desians."

Gnomelette 5 blinked. "What? Oh... really? But..." He frowned deeply and stamped his foot. "Oh, fine then! Be that way! Off you go... damn humans..."

The creature stepped aside (grumbling all the way) and Zelos and Lloyd continued down the increasingly narrow path, choosing to go straight first instead of to the right. The monsters of the Earth Temple, to Zelos' dismay, lived up to their name; they were extremely dirty. Within a few minutes, Zelos was noticing that very same dirt covering his pants in small patches of brown. After a small panic attack, he decided that Lloyd, as his mercenary, could fight all the enemies himself, and Zelos would attack with magic and heal. Much better than getting covered in muck, he thought.

Not long after that, they entered into another room and found a Gnomelette blocking their path once more. At first Zelos had thought it was the same one from earlier – but, upon closer inspection, he discovered that while they looked eerily similar, they were different.

"What are you losers looking at? You wanna fight?" This one said as the two came closer.

Lloyd frowned. "Are they all like this?"

Zelos shrugged. "They must've had a bad upbringing. Hey, you there, let us through. We have to get to the seal."

The Gnomelette laughed. "As if! You're not getting anywhere for free, bucko."

"What do you want then?" Lloyd asked with a small sigh.

The creature frowned a little in deep thought before asking, "What is 'spicy'? Does it taste good?"

"You want something spicy to eat?" Zelos clarified, raising one brow.

"That's right. Make me something 'spicy' and I'll let you pass!"

So now they had to cook for the little midget. Wonderful. Zelos rolled his eyes at the Gnomelette and turned to look expectantly at his companion, who raised his hands in front of him and gave a look of panic.

"Don't look at me!" He said loudly.

Zelos rolled his eyes again. No way in hell was he cooking this thing a meal. "You're a mercenary, right?" The boy nodded reluctantly. "Mercenaries live pretty much on their own, right?" Another, even more reluctant nod and Zelos gave him a hard stare. "And you can't cook?"

The boy shifted his gaze. "Not _well_..."

"Great!" Zelos said, clapping his hands together. "Lloyd, make this thing something spicy!"

"Like what?!" The boy asked, still panicked.

Zelos shrugged. "I dunno. Curry?"

Lloyd gave the redhead one last pleading look searching for mercy. When nothing happened, he hung his head. "Fine..."

A few minutes later, Zelos was more than glad he'd forced Lloyd into doing the cooking. The teen was a hilarious sight as he tried his best to cut up the ingredients and cook them into something edible. This proved to be a wonderful distraction for Zelos as he tried in vain to not think about what was coming. The first seal. There were only four in total. Then the Tower of Salvation, and then... nothing. His entire existence reduced to a few lines in a history book. Zelos paled.

"Zelos?" The redhead looked up; Lloyd appeared to be offering the Chosen some of his 'food'.

After seeing the teen work so hard on it, Zelos couldn't bring himself to refuse the brunet's hopeful expression. He accepted the bowl with a small "Thanks."

"Alright, alright, me next!" The Gnomelette cried impatiently. "Give me 'spicy'!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Lloyd grumbled, holding out a bowl of the curry. The Gnomelette grabbed it immediately and gobbled it down, bowl included.

"Ah! So this is 'spicy'! Not bad, kid!" The tiny man told the brunet. "What's your name?"

Lloyd smirked. "Give me your name and I'll give you mine!"

Zelos wasn't sure if it was the corny line, the stupid smile, or the prideful tone, but something about the brunet's demand made him laugh amusedly, much to Lloyd's dismay. The Gnomelette, however, didn't seem to notice.

"Heh, I'm Gnomelette 4! Pleased to meet'cha!"

Zelos laughed a little more at the name, and Lloyd answered with a grin, "I'm Lloyd Aurion."

A few minutes later Lloyd and Zelos were both enjoying their own servings of curry, and Zelos discovered that the teen's previous assessment of his cooking abilities was wrong. Zelos liked it; he even had seconds. It was on this second helping that he noticed the very odd look Lloyd was giving him. Somewhere in between sadness, regret, and a heck of a lot of guilt. The redhead gave a small, humourless smile. The teen was so easy to read, and it was clear that he was nowhere near heartless. He was the exact opposite of what Cruxis should have sent. Actually, he was the complete opposite of what Zelos had imagined Cruxis to be. But maybe Cruxis was full of people like Lloyd. That, of course, was nonsense, but it was a nice thought. That maybe Cruxis wasn't as mean as it seemed to be. Maybe there were a few people there who actually felt bad about what they were doing. Once again, though, that was nonsense. No one who felt guilt would last in something like Cruxis. The proof was right in front of him. Lloyd was just a teenager, and Zelos could see that he had had to bear far more than anyone his age should have to. He looked sad. All the time, even when he was smiling. It was one of the reasons why Zelos liked having Lloyd there – he didn't have to be depressed so long as Lloyd was there doing it for him. Just like now; Zelos could enjoy the meal, and Lloyd could show the horrible truth of what was really happening.

But of course, Lloyd had nothing to do with Cruxis. Riiiight.

"You know, Lloyd," the redhead began cheerily, "this curry tastes pretty good! You'll have to make it again for me sometime!"

He'd meant to cheer the teen up, but his words seemed to have the immediate opposite effect, much as the boy tried to hide it. Lloyd's eyes avoided Zelos and his eyebrows knitted together in a clear expression of guilt.

"Y-you mean it?" He asked, determined to keep up the conversation Zelos wished he hadn't started.

"Yeah..." Zelos nodded, frowning slightly. He felt like he was missing something here. There was something he didn't get, for whatever reason, and it was that something that was making Lloyd so uncomfortable. Was it just the guilt of knowing what was waiting for him in the Tower of Salvation, or was it something else? He wished suddenly that Yuan had been a little less cryptic when answering his questions about the truth of the restoration process.

"C'mon, Lloyd, let's go," Zelos announced, standing quickly.

Lloyd looked at him confusedly as he followed. "What's the hurry?"

Zelos stared ahead of him. "No point in putting it off, is there?"

Lloyd didn't answer, but made no further protest and quickened his pace before the two ran into yet another Gnomelette.

"Hey! Losers! You wanna fight?"

Zelos sighed. "This is just getting silly. How many of these things are there?"

"Too many," Lloyd answered.

"Oi! I said, do you wanna fight?!"

"No one wants to fight you," Zelos answered after rolling his eyes.

"Humph." The creature squinted up at them. "You guys wanna get past, right?"

The two men narrowed their eyes. "Yeah…" Zelos answered warily.

The Gnomelette smiled. "You wanna get to seal, right?"

"Alright, what do you want?" The Chosen asked, folding his arms over his chest.

The miniature man looked up at him innocently. "Nothin'. Just thought I'd offer my services and guide you to the seal room, Chosen One."

The redhead did a double take. "What? How did you… How do you know who I am?"

"Please," the Gnomelette said, laughing. "Everyone knows the Chosen. Anyway, do you want my help or not?"

"What's the catch?" Lloyd asked cautiously.

"No catch. It'd be my pleasure to help the Chosen complete his journey of restoration. After all, us Gnomelettes suffer too when there's less mana, not to mention Gnome's asleep, and there's even more monsters than before."

"Oh…" Zelos said, surprised. He realised that it had never occurred to him before that his sacrifice would be helping the other creatures in Tethe'alla; not just the humans and the earth, but the monsters and animals as well. Everyone was depending on him. "Thanks…"

"No problem!" The little man said, smiling as he led them away and down the path. It was a pretty good agreement, as it turned out. Gnomelette 3 led Zelos and Lloyd to the seal room and all he asked for in return was that they protect him from monsters. The temple turned out to be pretty small, and it didn't take them long to get through it. After more than a few handy earthquakes (which Lloyd seemed to thoroughly enjoy making) and a couple of less-than-safe drops from high places, Zelos could see the platform up ahead. It was nearly identical to the one found at the top of the Martel Temple.

"There it is…" He mumbled to himself as they got closer.

"Yep!" Gnomelette 3 cheered as he stopped walking. "This is the seal of Earth. The rest is up to you, Chosen One!"

Zelos paused for a moment and looked to Lloyd, who nodded him forward. _No turning back now_, he thought. Then he frowned; when was he going to stop thinking that? He was doomed to complete this journey since the day he was born, and there was nothing that could possibly get him out of it now. He could die, of course. But dying was the end result anyway; why make Tethe'alla suffer more with a meaningless death when he, more than any other person, could have a death that actually meant something? He had to do this, for everyone's sake.

The redhead approached the altar slowly and warily. Something didn't feel right. It wasn't just his own nervousness; something felt… odd, but he didn't really know what. Behind him, suddenly, he heard Lloyd draw his blades and dash towards him, calling his name. That was when Zelos saw it form in front of him, a mass of mana taking the shape of a terrifying monster. It was large, with mangy orange fur covering its entire body. It looked sort of like an eyeless prairie dog, but the group only got to see it for a moment before it dove claws-first into the rock. Now the creature was underground, tearing through the cave floor as if it was butter. It was easy to tell where it was, though, because it left in its wake a trail of upturned and dangerously pointy rock that seemed to be running around aimlessly. For a moment, the two men were unsure how to attack the mysterious creature known as the Bnyenea Tuk. Zelos chose to start the action by beginning a spell; Wind Blade. It was the opposing element of earth, but he wasn't sure how well it would work seeing as he'd be aiming it at the ground. Soon after Zelos began chanting, Lloyd decided to attack as well using Fierce Demon Fang at the head of the fast-moving mounds of rock. The moment he released the attack, however, the mounds direction immediately switched direction- it was coming straight at Lloyd. From then on the creature's movements were direct and accurate as it pursued the red clad teen. No matter where Lloyd ran, it seemed to know exactly where he was going. Even this, however, turned out to be useful. The creature was following Lloyd's movements perfectly, which made it perfectly predictable and for Zelos' spell, an easy target. He released his spell just behind Lloyd; it hit the creature's path accurately while at the same time tripping Lloyd up.

The spell's effect on the Bnyenea Tuk was immediate, and far more successful than Zelos had hoped; it brought the creature out of the ground. Lloyd (after recovering from his fall) was quick to notice this and smiled to himself; out of the ground was a creature he could easily take down with his swords. Zelos chased towards the two as Lloyd began a barrage of attacks starting with a whirling "Tempest!"

The creature had little time to react, much less dive back into the ground, and it was forced to use other tactics. This being the Earth Temple, neither of the boys were surprised when the Bnyenea Tuk's other moves included a variety of earth element spells and simply chucking dirt at them. The latter, surprisingly, turned out to be the most effective, because it hindered the swordsmen's sight for a few moments, allowing the creature to attack with its claws. Even with these attacks, however, the two still managed to bring the monster to its knees fairly quickly. Or, they would have, if it had any knees…

"RAGING BEAST!" Lloyd yelled as he delivered the final blow. The Bnyenea Tuk squealed in anguish for a moment before disappearing into nothingness. The entire cave floor was a mess, but the creature was defeated. Zelos was panting a little when he saw the look Lloyd was giving him. It was his turn now. Slowly, he turned towards the altar once again, no feelings of unease except the ones that he would have had anyway in this situation. Bowing his head in taught reverence, Zelos prayed.

"Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!" Zelos spoke loudly. These words he knew like the back of his hand; the words that formed the holy prayer of regeneration. As he spoke, a gentle light glowed from within the seal, and the angel Remiel descended from above, somehow ignoring the fact that there was an entire mountain between them and the sky.

"Zelos, son of the Mana lineage, you have done well." Remiel said to the red-haired man.

Zelos raised his head to look at the winged man. "…Thank you, my lord." The words felt awkward in his mouth, but they seemed to be necessary in this situation.

Remiel didn't really seem to be paying attention to anything the redhead said; he was more preoccupied with the sound of his own voice. "The guardian of the seal has fallen, and the first seal has been released. Gnome will surely awaken soon. In the name of Cruxis, I shall grant you the power of the angels!"

As he spoke a bright light seemed to form around him before flowing softly into the Cruxis Crystal on Zelos' chest. It was not contained in the crystal, however. Like before, Zelos felt the foreign energy throughout his body, even more fiercely than before. It was coursing through him, changing him. _Into an angel_… Zelos realised just as the pain he felt from the light increased and concentrated heavily in the area between his shoulder blades. The pain was blinding, but it lasted only a moment, then Zelos felt something entirely new and strange… he felt…

_Wings…_ Zelos thought, his eyes going wide as he craned his neck to look at the glowing appendages flapping between his shoulder blades. He had_ wings_… The thoughts stunned him for a moment as he watched the golden feathers sparkle in the light they themselves created. He had wings. Before now they had been flapping slowly, but now Zelos moved them with more purpose, smiling in wonder as they successfully brought him off the ground. It was so easy to have wings, like moving an arm or a leg, if you somehow managed to have arms and legs coming out of your back. Wings… for a moment it seemed to Zelos the one thing that could justify this horrific journey. He had wings, even if it was just for a little while.

"The angel transformation is not without pain. Yet, it is but for one night. Be strong and endure."

"I..." Zelos swallowed hard, turning back to face the blond man. "I humbly accept this trial."

Remiel smiled; it was cruel, heartless... He was enjoying this. "The next seal lies far to the North East and across the sea. Offer your prayers at that altar."

Zelos closed his eyes. "I'll be there."

Remiel said nothing in response, he just lifted his hands into the air and left the way he came – in a brilliant flash of light. It took Zelos a minute to realise he was gone, and then another minute to figure out how to float back down to the ground. Once his feet were firmly on the ground, he noticed Lloyd standing beside him, his face grim.

Zelos smiled down at him, flapping his new found wings, "Pretty cool, eh?"

Lloyd smiled back, "Yeah, not bad, Zelos."

He wasn't acting nearly as impressed as Zelos had hoped, but that didn't matter too much; Zelos was impressed enough for the both of them. Unconscious knowledge somehow told him that he could hide his wings away with a single thought, and he did so now. He felt... odd, and he remembered Remiel's words well. _The angel transformation is not without pain_... The words frightened him, because he could feel that they were true, even now. His head felt light and his muscles weak. Something was wrong with him.

"Let's go, Lloyd," he said, frowning. The brunet looked concerned for a moment, then nodded. They made their way over to Gnomelette 3 who followed them as they made their way back. Lloyd's look of concern grew as Zelos made his way across a particularly narrow bridge of rock. He looked like he was about to say something when there was a sudden earth quake, even more violent than the ones caused by the ring. Zelos swayed with the ground, his vision failing.

"Lloyd..." He started, his mind a blur. "Lloyd, I can't-" Suddenly his knees buckled, and the ground beneath him gave out. He was vaguely aware of Lloyd's voice screaming his name, and the feeling that he was falling, fast. He couldn't concentrate despite the fact that he knew he was going to die. His body felt foreign and changed, nothing seemed to be working right.

Suddenly he saw something through his fading vision, a bright light shining in the darkness around him. His mind was working enough to remind him _don't go towards the light_, but then he realised that it wasn't one light, it was two, and they weren't light's at all, they were _wings._

They were _huge_.

Two giant silver wings were heading towards him. Someone was coming to save him, and he instantly knew who. Nestled in between the light of these two luminescent appendages was a figure clad all in red, reaching out towards him.

"...Lloyd," he heard himself whisper softly before everything turned to darkness.

%%%%%%%%%

"Stupid, stupid, stupid! What's wrong with you?! What were you thinking?! Nothing. You weren't thinking anything, of course, because if you were _thinking_ this wouldn't have happened! Dammit Lloyd!!"

Zelos opened one eye to see a rather exasperated brunet sigh heavily and sit down on a nearby rock.

"Dad's gonna _kill_ me..."

Zelos slowly turned himself around in an attempt to find a more comfortable position on the bed that turned out to be the ground. His movement caught the attention of the brunet sitting beside him.

"Zelos, you're awake!" He said happily before jumping over to him. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Zelos groaned, still half-asleep. "Better than fine, actually..." He added, blinking slightly. Either he was having a very odd dream, or his vision was insanely better than before. He sat up quickly as he looked all around at his surroundings. They were still in the cave, but they were back at the entrance where the daylight from outside lit up their small camp. The daylight was unnecessary though; Zelos could easily see far into the darkness of the cave. Or, he would have been able to, if it weren't for the fact that-

"The cave's gone." Zelos pointed out simply, staring ahead with new found clarity at the wall of rocks and boulders that was once the passage to the Earth Temple.

Beside him, Lloyd groaned. "Yeah..."

Somehow, Zelos laughed a little. "Wow..." He then turned to look at the sulking brunet. "I blame you."

"Yeah..." Was all Lloyd said, his head hidden in his gloved hands.

Zelos, still smiling, took a moment to think about things. What the hell happened in the cave? He remembered the seal, and Remiel. He'd gotten his wings. Really awesome, really pretty, really golden wings... hang on, wings...

"LLOYD!" He yelled suddenly as his mind remembered the events of the previous day. The red-clad teen jumped at the sudden outburst, his eyes widening slightly.

"What? What?" He asked as Zelos quickly stood.

"You!" He yelled, pointing. "In the cave! WINGS!"

Lloyd's face fell as he grimaced. "Y-yeah..."

"Angels have wings!"

"Uh-huh..."

"So... you're... an angel!"

Lloyd scratched the back of his head. "Well... yeah."

Zelos stood, still in shock at this new information. Lloyd was an angel! An _angel_! And that meant... that meant...

"So I was right!!" He yelled again, smiling. "You _are_ with Cruxis!!"

Lloyd looked at him for a moment before sighing. "Well, it's not like I can really deny it now..."

Zelos smiled still, circling the brunet "Ah-hah! So I was _right_."

"Yeah..." Lloyd admitted sheepishly. "You were right."

"Well then!" Zelos said, calming down a little and taking a seat next to the brunet. "You, my friend, _suck_ at secret identities."

"I know..." Lloyd admitted as Zelos slapped him on the back.

They sat there for a moment, Zelos still taking in all the new discoveries of the morning, before they were interrupted by a group of about six creatures he knew as Gnomelettes coming into the cave from the outside. Lloyd looked up at their arrival.

"Oh! How'd it go, guys?"

The Gnomelettes frowned, and one of them that Zelos hadn't seen before spoke. "Bad. All the other entrances are caved in. We're seriously screwed."

Lloyd cringed. "You guys don't think the whole thing collapsed, do you?"

"I doubt it," the Gnomelette known as Big Brother answered. "That Chosen over there woke Gnome up, so he probably protected the main chambers, or some of them."

"'Course none of that matters seeing as we can't get _inside_."

Lloyd hung his head. "Sorry, guys... I don't know what happened..."

"You got trigger-happy with the sorcerer's ring!"

"I'll make it up to you!" Lloyd tried. "And besides, I'm sure Cruxis will have this place up and running in no time!"

"Humph." Big Brother crossed his arms. "I sure hope so. And until then I hope you can provide us all with a place to stay."

"What?!" Lloyd asked, panicked now. "A place to stay?!"

"Yeah," one of the smaller creatures answered. "We'll stay at your place!"

"_My place_?" Lloyd repeated, laughing humourlessly. "Look, guys..."

Zelos watched as they got into a full-fledged argument. Poor Lloyd seemed to be in way over his head. It was funny, but Zelos didn't let it continue for too long.

"Well, if we can't stay there then where _are_ we gonna go? You destroyed our home!"

"Hey!" Zelos yelled to get the squabbling midget's attention. "Have no fear, the great Zelos is here! And he has all the answers."

Big Brother scoffed. "That so? Let's hear it, big shot."

Zelos smirked knowingly. "You guys need a place to stay, and I happen to have a very large, extravagant and vacant house in the wealthiest district of Meltokio; sound good?"

The Gnomelettes whooped and nodded their approval, and Lloyd leaned over to Zelos. "You sure? These guys are gonna trash your place..."

Zelos shrugged. "What do I care? It's not like I'm ever going back to it."

"Alright," Big Brother said, apparently speaking for all the Gnomelettes. "We'll stay at the Chosen's house in Meltokio until you and Cruxis can fix the Temple of Earth."

"Sounds good," Zelos answered, finishing the conversation.

It wasn't long after that when the group (Zelos, Lloyd, and a population of Gnomelettes) set out. The little things complained a lot, but Zelos and Lloyd soon got into the habit of ignoring them completely and keeping up conversations of their own. At first they just talked about general stuff, but soon Zelos began to focus on what some of the questions that had been nagging at him since before the journey began.

"So, Lloyd," he asked after the two defeated yet another party of monsters, "you're in Cruxis, right?"

Lloyd grimaced at the question. "Yes, Zelos..."

The redhead smiled a little. "So what can you tell me about them?"

"Nothing," Lloyd answered coldly.

Zelos frowned, racing to keep up with Lloyd as he walked onward. "Nothing? What do you mean? Why?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you anything more than you need to know," he answered, and then turned his head to look at the redhead, "and you already know more than that."

Zelos' frown deepened, "So I finally get you to admit to being a part of Cruxis, and I don't even get to know anything?"

"That's about right."

"That's not _fair_..." Zelos whined as he followed beside Lloyd. "I think I should get something for finding out the truth."

Lloyd laughed. "You did get something; I saved your life, didn't I?"

Zelos blinked. He was right. Lloyd had saved his life, hadn't he? Zelos had fallen, and Lloyd had jumped right in after him. Then again, Lloyd wasn't the first one to do something like that. Plenty of people were willing to risk their lives to save the Chosen of Regeneration. The only difference with Lloyd was that it was his job, he had to do it. But no... Lloyd wasn't like that, was he? He didn't seem like the kind of person to be so blinded by duty. Yet here he was, refusing to tell him anything because Cruxis told him not to. Maybe Zelos had been too open-minded about Lloyd. He thought that maybe he was different from the rest in Cruxis, but maybe he was just the same. Maybe all he cared about was keeping Zelos alive long enough for him to die in the way Cruxis wanted. Zelos turned his head to the side; he didn't want to believe that. He wanted to believe that Lloyd was as innocent as he seemed, that he really wasn't all that bad. But then again, Zelos barely knew Lloyd, and what he did know about Lloyd was almost all a lie. He wasn't really a mercenary, he wasn't really in this for the money, and he didn't really care about Tethe'alla at all. Everything he'd done he'd done as part of the lie. Well, everything except saving his life...

"Hey! Look! I can see it!" One of the squeakier Gnomelettes cheered. "Meltokio!"

Zelos' head snapped up at the mention of his home city. He saw it too; a horizon filled with the tall outlines of the proud city of Meltokio. With his improved eyesight Zelos could see it pretty clearly, even from this distance. The castle's turrets were like flames flickering in the orange sky, the black smoke of the multiple chimneys billowing into the sunset. Suddenly Zelos stopped walking, his eyes widening in horror.

Meltokio was burning.

* * *

I Feel the need to tell you the origins (ahaha) of the chapter title. Its that one christmas song from Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer!!! Do you guys remember that? With the island of the misfit toys? Silver and Gold! It's the song Yukon Cornelius sings!!! Well, I feel pretty lame right about now, but I still love the song. What was once a beautiful childhood memory is now just another reference to Zelloyd. Hurrah!

Right, right, this chapter... well, Gnomelettes! I love the Gnomelettes, they were SO cute. I always wanted to take them with me in the game, and now Zelos and Lloyd can! If only for a little while... They probably wont last more than another chapter, but hey! I'll still have fun!

Oh yeah, you should all know that the completion of this chapter came entirely from ONE REVEIW. Yes, that's right, a few days ago, someone reveiwed this fic, and it ispired me to go on a writing spree and write this chapter. Yeah, one chapter is now a writing spree. So see, everyone! See what happens when you reveiw! Wonderful things happen! Like chapter updates! Though I have to say, I do get a fair amount of reveiws for this fic, and it makes me very very happy. :) So keep it up, guys!

Let me see... ah yes, the reasons why I haven't been writing much lately is cause I just moved (again) to another part of Trinidad (unfortunately). That and i've been distracted by Yuarcy...heh. I've been trying to finish up a few Yuarcy one shots I've got started (none of which are any where near completion) and so that's been taking a lot of time too. But anyway, enough excuses, I'm just really happy I got this chapter done.

As for future chapters...well, I have good news for all you Kratos fangirls (though i REALLY, REALLY DOUBT there are any Kratos fangirls reading this...), and all you Lloyd fangirls (like me) who live off all kinds of fluff (including KratosLloyd!), Kratos will be making an appearance soon!!! Please don't hurt me, faithful readers!!! I just want some adorable father son cruxis!lloyd fluff!!! I promise, he'll be there and gone all in one chapter. And besides, I doubt I'll be able to resist torturing him a little while he's there (even I have my limits.)

So yeah, you can...you know... either look forward to that or dread it, but whichever. KRATOS IS COMING SOON.

Wow! Long authors note! I'm done now though. Hope you enjoyed that chapter, and PLEASE REVIEW! :D


End file.
